The Pig Act (2000)

In the moment when all is lost, when the ground is pulled out from under one’s feet, one thinks of survival. One turns to a risky act, an act which, each time it is performed, becomes more and more dangerous, less reliable, pushing one further outside to the margins of existence. On what then can the soul survive?

“The Pig Act” poses this situation in metaphorical imagery and through black humor. The world is a circus tent. In this world lives a small being. It comes into the world with a talent to play a haunting concerto on two sticks. The instrument’s unexpected destruction forces the small being to create a new act in order to survive. This is “The Pig Act,” a humorous and unusual circus performance, which develops to the point of life and death.
Each of us has a “pig act” which we perform, juggling some aspect of our lives in order to survive. It can be just in that moment, when our most desperate act seems to fail, that we find the strongest sense of being in this world.

Conceived by

Ines Zeller Bass

Directed by

Eric Bass

Designed by

Jana Zeller

Music by

Ralph Denzer

Performed by

Ines Zeller Bass, Finn Campman and Dave Regan

“The question is what is this simple story about? Is it a story about the power of love? Is it a love story? Is it a darkly humorous allegory about the exploitation of the innocent? Like the film La Strada, does Sandglass use the setting to show the sinister underbelly of the circus and how it can corrupt the pure of heart? Is it a cautionary tale about how pride and desperation can drive well meaning but naive people to reckless acts of cuelty? The questions, whether metaphorical or practical, are limitless. If you like theater to challenge you while evoking simple themes and if you like spectacular effects in an intimate setting, then it is a must see.”